Cooking Up Listening and Learning: LSL Strategies for Families in the Kitchen

For many families, the kitchen is the heart of the home. It’s where favorite meals are made, traditions are shared, and memories are created. If you’re wondering how to support listening and spoken language at home, there are some great opportunities to include your child in the kitchen! Whether you’re baking pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, whipping up pancakes on a Saturday morning, or simply heating up Dino nuggets, your kitchen can become a wonderful place of listening and learning for your child who is deaf or hard of hearing.

Keep reading for family kitchen learning activities to use with your baby, toddler, or preschooler! With just a few Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) strategies, your little chef can be part of every laugh, recipe, and conversation that happens in the kitchen.

Cook Up Learning with the Hear It Before They See It Strategy

When cooking with your child, make ear contact before eye contact. That means letting your child hear something before they see it.

For example, before you bring out the chocolate chips, say, “Oh, we need our chocolate chips! Here come the chips!”

Then shake and crinkle the bag so they can hear it. Next, show your child the bag and continue the steps. “Let’s pour the chips into the cup...now let’s pour them into the bowl!”

This simple interaction helps your little one or new listener connect sounds and words with the objects and actions around them.

Mix in the Keep Them on Their Toes Strategy

A little bit of fun “sabotage” can spark great listening and learning opportunities – especially for your toddler with hearing loss! Ask your little chef to stir the bowl, but don’t hand them the spoon right away. They’ll need to use their listening and talking skills to ask for what they need.

You could say, “Oh! You need a spoon to stir? Silly me – I forgot the spoon!”

You can even try handing them the wrong size or a different utensil to encourage more back-and-forth conversation: “Is that the right one? Oh, that’s too small! You need the big spoon!”

This playful problem-solving helps your child practice asking questions, using new words, and understanding what they hear.

Stir Up Conversation with Play-By-Play

The Play-By-Play LSL strategy is perfect for any child, no matter their age or stage! While your child observes or helps you cook, describe what’s happening in real time.

• “You’re stirring round and round!”
• “We’re pouring the batter into the pan!”
• “Look – it’s turning brown in the oven!”

When you use the Play-By-Play strategy, you are adding words to your child’s vocabulary. And when you use this strategy as you cook together, you’re adding in listening and language opportunities in everyday moments!

Add in the It’s Your Turn Strategy

Keep the conversation going! Take turns talking, asking questions, and responding to each other. This natural back-and-forth rhythm builds communication skills and helps your child learn how conversations work. Make sure to pause, wait, and lean-in to create space for your child to respond!

For example:

• “What should we add next?”
• “Mmmm, what do you think it smells like?”
• “Who should we make cookies for?”

A Recipe for Listening Success

When you include your child in these everyday moments in the kitchen, you’re not just building language, you’re also building connection and confidence too!

Talk with your early interventionist about new ways and ideas to use LSL strategies in the kitchen.

To see real life examples of families listening and learning in the kitchen together, check out this video! You’ll see Corlena cooking with her Grandmama while Dacie and Carlie prepare dinner with their mom. Watch how these families combine fun and quality family time with listening and talking opportunities to create a recipe for listening success!